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MATC board targeted for overhaul

Two state Republican lawmakers are leading a charge to change the make-up of the Milwaukee Area Technical College Board and give a stronger voice to the business community.

But the effort is sparking a backlash one day before a key committee vote.

The Senate version of the bill already passed out of committee by a 4-3 party line vote. The Assembly version is set for a vote Thursday. The legislation seeks to increase representation of area businesses from two to five of the nine MATC board seats.

Who appoints MATC board members also would change.

The proposal has drawn protest from MATC, several community-based organizations and at least one member of the Milwaukee County Board, challenging whether the new plan includes adequate representation for Milwaukee County, whose taxpayers provide 84% of total funding for MATC.

"Milwaukee taxpayers should be outraged at this blatant power grab by the (Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce)," said Milwaukee County Supervisor Gerry Broderick.

Broderick said the Senate committee discussed the bill behind closed doors "to ensure a minimum amount of public response."

Currently, a committee of 20-plus school board presidents appoints MATC board members. Under the proposed change, MATC board members would be appointed by a committee of four county officials: the Milwaukee County Executive, and chairpersons of the Milwaukee, Ozaukee and Washington County boards of supervisors.

Opposition to the plan focuses mostly on the make-up of the appointment committee.

"While 90% of students attending MATC campuses come from Milwaukee County, only 6% come from Washington and Ozaukee counties," Broderick said. "yet, the bill's provisions give these outlying counties 50% control of the proposed four-person board."

The Senate bill maintains requirements for representation on the board for women, minorities and geographic distribution of the population. It's unclear whether the Assembly bill will require representation.

The proposed legislation only singles out the MATC board for changes; Wisconsin's other technical college boards would be untouched. Currently, 13 of the state's technical college boards are appointed by county boards; three, including Milwaukee, have school board committee appointments.

That's based on the origin of the technical colleges; school districts created MATC. The 13 tech colleges with county board appointments were created by counties, said Morna Foy, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Technical College System.

If the bills gain approval of the full Legislature, those currently on the MATC board would serve out their terms before the changes were made.

Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said he supports several elements of the proposed MATC board change.

Sheehy said Wednesday that MATC does "a fairly good job, but I think they could do a better job and this could help them."

"If you go back six or eight years, we have been very transparent about the importance of a partnership between MATC and the business community," Sheehy said. Redefining business representation on the Milwaukee technical college board has been on the MMAC's legislative agenda for a decade, he said.

"Our focus is definition of who qualifies as a business leader. We also want more than two folks on the board with business experience, experience hiring in the private sector, and who understand the needs of the business community."

Manufacturing has had little representation on the MATC board, Sheehy said, though current board member Michael Katz, president of Molded Dimensions Inc. in Port Washington, is an "outstanding representative."

"We have more jobs in manufacturing than any other metropolitan area in the country, except for San Jose," Sheehy said.

A better partnership is needed between manufacturing businesses and MATC, which trains people for jobs such as welding, he said.

MATC has a welding committee to guide its welding training. "There's a thirst in the business community for welders, but the number of people who have taken welding classes at MATC is relatively small," Sheehy said. "There are hundreds of welding jobs, but we can't find welders here."

The nine-member MATC board currently includes two employer representative and two employee representative, one school district administrator, three additional members and one elected official.

In the past, employer representatives appointed by the committee of school board presidents came from the Milwaukee County Zoological Society, the housing authority and a law firm, Sheehy said.

The MMAC routinely recruited and nominated manufacturing leaders for the board, but the appointment committee of school board representatives didn't choose them, Sheehy said. "The board tends to be fairly self-perpetuating."

The appointment process for the MATC board is "arcane," Sheehy said. "It's unclear who makes the decision and the response frankly is lackluster. You're never sure who will show up on the day of the vote, or whether they're familiar with the candidates."

If the Grothman- and Honadel-sponsored bills become law, the MATC board would be comprised of one school administrator, one elected official, two at-large member and five persons representing for-profit businesses or non-profit medical facilities -- three employers with 15 or more employees, and two with 100 or more employees. At least two of those members would come from manufacturing; the other three could come from any business, including medical.

Currently, equal consideration is given to the general population distribution within the district and the distribution of women and minorities within the district. In addition, equal consideration must be given to the distribution of minorities within the City of Milwaukee.

For the purposes of appointing MATC Board members, the MATC District is divided into geographical areas based on school districts. Board members are appointed from geographical areas as follows:City of Milwaukee - four members; north suburban - one member; south suburban - one member; north or south suburban - one member; additional - two members.

At least two of the members from the City of Milwaukee must be minorities with a least three minority members overall; at least three members must be women and at least three members must be men, in each case excluding the school district administrator.

An early version of the Senate and Assembly bills did not include language requiring representation. That language has since been substituted to include such representation, according to Grothman.

Sheehy said he agrees the MATC board should be diverse and should represent the constituencies in the community that rely on the college.

Grothman said the current board lacks appropriate focus.

"I think the MATC board is not primarily focused on its mission, and has an attitude of looking out more for its employees," he said. "Their primary mission should be training employees for the Milwaukee-area workforce. I think they have lost track of their purpose."

About Karen Herzog

Karen Herzog covers higher education. She also has covered public health and was part of a national award-winning team that took on Milwaukee's infant mortality crisis.